Brush Display of lights honors beloved son, brother

Harvard light show for Austin Henry

This light display at 340 Harvard St. in Brush honors Austin Henry, who died at the age of 6 in a car accident.

The Henry-Ziegler family in Brush has turned a family tragedy into a spirit-spreading light show set to music to honor a beloved son and brother who passed away in 2003.

Austin Henry was only six when he died in an alcohol-related car accident.

His surviving siblings, Kyle and Makayla Henry, along with his mother, Angie Ziegler, struggled with his passing, especially during Christmas because it was Austin's favorite holiday.

Their sorrow was soon eclipsed by an idea born by Angie's new husband, Mike Ziegler.

"He wanted to do something to cheer the kids up, and it gives us a peace that Austin can see us with all the lights shinning bright," Angie said as she spoke through tears. "It still feels like we lost him yesterday.

These archesÂ? took 10 hours to build.

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Mike started putting up lights a few years ago at their home on 340 Harvard Street and keeps adding more every year. This year, he sought out licensure to use a local radio frequency and synced the lights with a variety of Christmas songs that last about 20 minutes. Mike goes by the nickname "Clark" so the show also features audio clips from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

The display has about 25,000 lights with a double arch that alone took ten hours to build. The arches shoot lights across the yard and sit adjacent to an eight-foot tall mega-tree with 3,200 lights. The lawn is lined with numerous homemade ornaments, mini-Christmas trees made from upside-down wire tomato cages and showcases several animated blow up characters.

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Angie said the community seems to really love their display.

"I know people get into the spirit of Christmas from watching our show because the first night we had it going, a car with a daughter and father stopped out front. They opened all the doors of their car, cranked up the music and danced together right there in the street."

The light show is also a nice welcome home for Mike's college-age kids, Kara and Kassie Ziegler, when they come back for Christmas break.

A sign invites passersby to tune in for Christmas music interspersed with audio from â National Lampoonâ s Christmas Vacation.â ?
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The family is already planning the decorations for next year. They want to add another 40,000 lights for next year's show and hope to have Santa come by to greet children and serve hot cocoa. They also plan to add some more lawn elements such as a nativity.

The light show runs from 5 to 10 p.m. during the week and until 11 p.m. on the weekends.

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